Guest post by Los Monstruos: Ava and the Owl-Witch author Diana López
Diana López is the author of the adult novella Sofia’s Saints as well as of numerous middle grade novels, including Confetti Girl, Nothing Up My Sleeve, Lucky Luna, and Los Monstruos: Felice and the Wailing Woman, and the picture book Sing With Me: The Story of Selena Quintanilla. She also wrote the novel adaptation for the Disney/Pixar film Coco. Diana retired after a twenty-eight-year career in education at both the middle grade and college levels, but she still enjoys meeting with students when she visits schools to chat about books and writing. She lives in her hometown of Corpus Christi, Texas. Many of her books are available in English and Spanish, and you can learn more at DianaLopezBooks.com.
About Los Monstruos: Ava and the Owl-Witch: The thrilling conclusion to the Los Monstruos trilogy by Diana López that explores the Texas-Mexico border myth of La Lechuza.
The literal translation of “tres leches” is “three milks.” It refers to the ingredients in a delicious cake popular in Mexico and in South Texas where I live. One day, while enjoying a slice, I had this thought: Wouldn’t it be cool to live in a town called Tres Leches? I imagined a billboard along State Highway 77 with the slogan, Tres Leches, the Sweetest Place in Tejas. The scent came to me first—cinnamon, chocolate, vanilla, gingerbread—and I visualized Main Street lined with panaderías and bakeries, colorful awnings providing shade for bistro tables along the sidewalk, and dozens of chimeneas lining the street. What a magical place, the perfect setting for the Los Monstruos trilogy that I was just beginning to write.
Los Monstruos features three characters, all children of famed South Texas monsters—Felice, daughter of La Llorona; Rooster, son of the Dancing Diablo; and Ava, daughter of La Lechuza. From the beginning, my plan was to devote a book to each of the three characters. I have finally completed the last book, Ava and the Owl Witch, which is about a girl whose mother, a giant owl, is arrested for abducting people she believes are troublemakers. Ava desperately wants to understand her mother’s motives, and during her investigation, she finds answers about her family and about the origin of Tres Leches, for we learn that it is tied to Ava’s ancestors.
The origin story is one of my favorite moments in the book, and while writing it, I realized the importance of Tres Leches, for it is both a setting and a character.
When we first encounter the town, the community members are voicing everything that’s wrong with it: the river is haunted by a ghost, the children are disappearing, and a giant owl patrols the night sky. They can’t leave Tres Leches, and no one from the outside world can enter because only a monster truck can cross the ring of mud that surrounds them. There is much bickering among the townsfolk for many are bullies, liars, and chismosos (gossips). Some of the townsfolk are strangely bewitched by Bonita, the local curandera, who is eager to cast a spell on everyone she meets. As Felice quickly realizes, the town may smell sweet, but the people aren’t sweet at all.
When I began this project, I understood that I had to find the arc in each character’s story. Felice, Rooster, and Ava must confront and reconcile with their parents. They must face the conflicts that reside within themselves and reach a point of self-acceptance. But as I came to the final chapters of the series, I realized that there is another arc that crosses the storylines and takes all three books to resolve, for in each book, our heroes must also confront the town, forcing it to answer for its part in their misfortunes. These are the big, showdown scenes, and they were so much fun to write, especially the moment when the face-off turns into a communal celebration because ultimately, the main character of the Los Monstruos series, is Tres Leches.
I’m often asked, “Who’s your favorite character?” I love Felice, Rooster, and Ava, but I have to say, “Tres Leches.” I absolutely love that town where people are as likely to travel by skateboard or horse as by car, where the sheriff carries knitting needles instead of a gun, where owls tell knock-knock jokes, where bluebonnet fields enchant you, and where a forest of leafless trees bombards you with voices from the past, eternally echoing. You can visit the Mesquite Bean Inn filled with cats named after different types of cheese, and El Camarón, a dancehall with a giant neon sign of a cowboy “bull-riding” on a shrimp. Mayor Reynaldo drives a monster truck called El Cucuy, and he presides over the town with his colorful piñata stick, raising it to the sky and proclaiming, “There will always be magic in Tres Leches!”
